Argentina: Legislation

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: My honourable friend the Minister for Europe (Chris Bryant) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	The UK firmly rejects the enactment and promulgation, on 9 December 2009, of Argentine law 26.552 and thus the additional paragraph in Article 1 of Argentine law 23.775 in so far as it purports to include within a province of Argentina areas which comprise the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the British Antarctic Territory.
	The UK has no doubt about its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas. The UK also has no doubt about its sovereignty over the British Antarctic Territory (south of latitude 60°S and bounded by longitudes 20°W and 80°W).
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has delivered a note verbale to the Argentine Charge d'Affaires in London outlining the UK's rejection.

Employment: Access to Professions

Lord Young of Norwood Green: My right honourable friend the Minister for Business Innovation and Skills (Pat McFadden) has today made the following Statement.
	I have today laid before Parliament the Command Paper Unleashing Aspiration-the Government response to the final report of the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions. This responds to the report of the same name led by the right honourable Member for Darlington, published on 21 July 2009.
	Social mobility lies at the heart of this Government's social policies. That is why, in our White Paper New Opportunities-Fair Chances for the Future (Cmd. 7533) last year, we set out our commitment to give everyone a fair chance to get ahead and it was following the publication of that paper that my right honourable friend the Member for Darlington was commissioned by the Prime Minister to write his report.
	The fair access to the professions report has already had a profound impact on the policies of this Government since their publication: Quality, Choice and Aspiration, the information advice and guidance strategy launched by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Children, School and Families is making it easier for young people and their parents to access high-quality advice and guidance about education and careers. Today we will set out a guarantee, building from the New Opportunities White Paper, for up to 130,000 of the brightest young people from low-income backgrounds to benefit from a structured package of support towards higher education from 2012.
	In Higher Ambitions, the higher education framework, we made it clear to universities that social mobility must remain at the heart of their mission. We accepted the panel's recommendation on asking universities to take into account the context of educational achievement when assessing admissions. Lord Browne is leading an independent review of higher education funding and student finance to ensure the system caters for full and part-time students and finance is not a barrier to accessing higher education.

EU: Agriculture and Fisheries Council

Lord Davies of Oldham: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Hilary Benn) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	My honourable friend the Minister for Food, Farming and Environment (Jim Fitzpatrick) will be representing the United Kingdom at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels on 18 January. No Ministers from the devolved Administrations are scheduled to attend.
	This will be the first Agriculture and Fisheries Council under the Spanish presidency, and it will outline its work programme on agriculture and fisheries dossiers. Discussions will also take place on two substantive items-the Commission communication A Better Functioning Food Supply Chain in Europe and the Italian state aid request for the purchase of agriculture land.
	Under any other business, a Bulgarian request for state aid for producers of raw tobacco has been tabled.

Health: Thalidomide

Baroness Thornton: My right honourable friend the Minister of State, Department of Health (Mike O'Brien), made the following Oral Statement on 14 January.
	With permission, Mr Speaker, I wish to make a Statement about help for thalidomide survivors. Between 1958 and 1961, the drug thalidomide was used by expectant mothers to control the symptoms of morning sickness. Tragically, this led to many babies being born with often severe physical disabilities. There are currently 466 thalidomiders, as they refer to themselves, who are beneficiaries of the Thalidomide Trust. The Government wish to express their deep sympathy for the injury and suffering endured by all those affected. I will say more about that in a moment.
	I am pleased to report that the Government will now fund a £20 million, three-year pilot scheme to help meet the health needs of thalidomide survivors in a more personalised way. Funding has been found from existing departmental central contingency budgets. The scheme will be operated by the Thalidomide Trust, which will use its considerable expertise and knowledge of its members' needs to distribute money to survivors. They, in turn, will invest the money in adaptations and other preventive measures that are likely to reduce long-term demands on the NHS.
	In recent months, I have met the national advisory council of the Thalidomide Trust on a number of occasions, and it impressed on me its concerns about the continuing and increasing health needs of thalidomiders as they approach older age. This additional funding will help to meet their complex and highly specialised needs, and to reduce further degeneration in their health.
	There will be clear principles for the use of the money. It will be used to explore how the health needs of thalidomide survivors can best be met in the longer term. It will also be used to look at the effectiveness of the scheme and how this approach of working through an expert national body might be applied to other small groups of geographically dispersed patients with specialised needs. The evaluation will be focused on thalidomide survivors in England. However, as the Thalidomide Trust has discretion in how it uses its funding, we expect that survivors living outside England will also benefit.
	It is important to acknowledge that this announcement builds on work done with thalidomiders in past decades by Lord Morris of Manchester and by Lord Ashley of Stoke. Lord Morris, appointed as the first Minister for Disabled People in 1974, made Distillers, the then owners of the thalidomide drug, establish a trust fund for affected children. Lord Ashley has tirelessly campaigned for greater recognition of the effects of the drug and the needs of thalidomiders, which has also led to improvements in drug safety. The work of Harold Evans and the Sunday Times should also be acknowledged, as should the campaigning by a number of current Members of this House.
	While the Government are taking positive steps to help thalidomide survivors, the contribution of the Thalidomide Trust to supporting survivors and their families cannot be overstated. I would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the work of the trust, its officers and, in particular, to the members of the national advisory council, which has worked tirelessly to champion the cause of thalidomiders.
	Importantly, let me make the following Statement on behalf of the Government, as I know that many thalidomiders have waited a long time for it; it has been agreed with the national advisory council. The Government wish to express their sincere regret and deep sympathy for the injury and suffering endured by all those affected when expectant mothers took the thalidomide drug between 1958 and 1961. We acknowledge both the physical hardship and the emotional difficulties that have faced the children affected and their families as a result of this drug and the challenges that many continue to endure, often on a daily basis. In the light of what happened, a complete review of the machinery for marketing, testing and regulating drugs was initiated, including the enactment of the Medicines Act 1968, which introduced further testing for medicines prior to licensing to ensure that they met acceptable standards of safety and efficacy.